U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,634, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a device for use in controlling the compression of the spring of a MacPherson strut during disassembly and subsequent reassembly of the strut. In that device a first platen is moved along a pair of rails toward and away from a fixed platen. The movable platen moves in a direction perpendicular to its principal plane and includes a plurality of standoffs which engage the head of the strut.
There has recently been introduced in the marketplace a MacPherson strut wherein the longitudinal axis of the strut is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the coil spring which surrounds it. When the compressor described in the said patent is used with this type of strut the movable platen moves parallel to the strut axis, but in a direction transverse to the spring axis. As a result, the strut mounted parts bind against the spring. Moreover, since the head of the strut fits against the upper end of the strut spring, its upper face is generally disposed at a small angle relative to the plane of the movable platen, and due to the compression of the spring this angle changes as the platen moves downwardly along the strut axis.